DIPOL Weekly Review – TV and SAT TV, CCTV, WLAN

Energy from bacteria using 3D printing.

When we think of the green energy potential, photovoltaics, vibrating and piezoelectric transducers, wind turbines, and hydroelectric turbines most often come to mind. A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK has demonstrated the use of bacteria and photosynthesis to generate electricity.

The researchers used solar energy and bacteria to generate small but useful amounts of electricity. They used jet printing technology with indium oxide and tin nanoparticles to create special electrodes. The resulting electrodes have excellent light transmission properties.

The micro-scale electrodes resemble glass skyscrapers. Once the self-organized cyanobacteria were inside them, the combination was found to provide much higher energy output than other known bioenergy technologies. Of course, other research teams had extracted energy from photosynthetic bacteria but the Cambridge scientists insist that giving them the right kind of 'home' increases the amount of energy they can process by more than an order of magnitude.

Surprisingly, the photosynthetic bacteria used are not a rare "species." These cyanobacteria are free-living, self-repairing bacteria that, the researchers explained, are among the most abundant life forms on Earth. The resulting electricity could in the future be used, for example, to power small electronics.

How to optimize UPS runtime?

UPS runtime can vary depending on battery age, charge level, power of connected loads, environment and other variables. To prevent reduced UPS runtime and get the most out of your batteries it is essential to keep them in good shape. Battery management technology and regular maintenance are helpful in maintaining UPS uptime.

Batteries wear out over time, resulting in a shorter run time. To check the battery health, regular testing and maintenance are a must. In Cyberpower UPSes, you can use the LCD screen on the UPS or control software PowerPanel to perform battery test and know the battery condition. In general, a battery test should be performed every 6-12 months and immediately after battery replacement.

High and low temperatures affect the battery charging voltage, which can accelerate battery degradation. Cyberpower UPSs have Smart Battery Management (SBM) technology built into the motherboard, which improves and extends UPS battery life and reduces excessive heating during duty cycles by using a three-cycle charging process. Equally important is the management of individual cell charge levels. Overcharging or undercharging causes differences in cell life. The voltage of each battery is equalized, ensuring a similar life cycle.

TERRA ultra-selective channel amplifier.

TERRA has introduced the PA321TP TERRA R82513 programmable multiband channel amplifier.
The amplifier has 2 programmable inputs for VHF band (174-240 MHz)/UHF band (470-694 MHz) and 1 FM input (87-108 MHz). The device has twenty independent amplification paths. Each of the paths is responsible for amplification of one multiplex of digital terrestrial television DVB-T/T2. It also means that one device can amplify twenty digital multiplexes.

Each of the 20 amplifiers is equipped with automatic gain control (AGC) and ultra-selective SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) filter – 30 dB within 1 MHz from the channel border.

The automatic gain control ensures:

Device groups in the iVMS-4200 application.

After adding the DVR to the iVMS-4200 application, it may happen that the cameras supported by the DVR are not visible in the main view window. This may occur if, when adding the DVR, the Import to group option is not checked. The solution is to add the device again with this option checked or to create a group in the Device management -> Group tab. In this tab you can either manually create a group and import the permissions selected by the user, or create a group by device name with automatic import of available functions. The created group can also be edited, i.e. in the case of a monitoring system the user can add or remove encoding channels (cameras).

Fiber optics: can multimode devices be used with single-mode cabling and vice versa?

A frequently asked question among those with little experience with fiber optic systems is that of mixing devices and cables and patchcords dedicated to single-mode or multimode systems. A common and correct statement is that you should not combine, within one system, different types of elements, i.e. in case of cables with single-mode fibers you should use dedicated devices and single-mode patchcords, similarly as in the case of multimode cables.

Purely practical possibility, although absolutely not recommended, is connecting single-mode devices to multimode cabling. This is possible due to the very construction of multimode fibers: the core is five times thicker and is able to take over all the laser light coming out of an active device. The light is introduced into the multimode cable without major losses, however, it propagates differently than it does in a single-mode fiber (multimode fiber features larger core, different core structure and doping). Therefore, the maximum transmission distance in such a case is definitely shorter. It can be assumed that this distance is usually several hundred meters – depending on the transmitter power – from 200 to 500 m.

It is completely unacceptable and practically impossible to use multimode devices with single-mode cabling. Plugging-in even 0.5 m long patch cord into such an installation will cause a complete loss of signal on the receiving side. Of course, this is a consequence of the previously described difference in the diameter of the cores of the different kinds of the fibers – the light from the laser or LED is intended to enter into a 50-micrometer multimode core will be dramatically reduced at the connection with the 9-micrometer core of the single mode fiber.

Antenna for LTE over long distances.

Wireless Internet access services provided by mobile network operators are an increasingly popular access method chosen by subscribers. Depending on the transmitter and mobile operator, wireless access services can be provided using different data transmission techniques.

When selecting an antenna, it is important to obtain information on the location of the nearest transmitters emitting signals in a particular standard. Having obtained information on the location and supported bands, you should measure the distance to the transmitter, check the distribution of connectors of the device (modem/router with built-in modem) and whether the router aggregates bands. Details on band aggregation should be found in the modem or router manual/specification.

If the base station supports several bands, e.g. LTE800, LTE180, LTE2100, and the router has an aggregation function, a broadband antenna , should be used (+++this is the antenna most often recommended by DIPOL to receive LTE networks in Poland in almost 100%). When the transmitter is located above 6 km away we recommend using the TRANS-DATA LTE KYZ 10/10 A741024 antenna (it's the best antenna offered by DIPOL for LTE networks).

DVB-S/S2 signal distribution via fiber optic. An owner of a large hotel complex ordered the installation of terrestrial TV providing signals in the new DVB-T2 standard and DVB-S/S2 satellite signals. The installation was to cover 5 facilities. The TV system would distribute signals in the new DVB-T2 standard from a local transmitter, and 15 FTA satellite programs in the form of digital DVB-T signals. For that purpose, a solution based on TERRA equipment has been chosen...>>>more